Tarde's Imitation Theory: domination of example - Answers He rejected the biological and
psychological theories and did not believe in the social determinism; rather, he said behavior is a
process of imitation.
1) People imitate each other in proportion to their close contact
2) The inferior imitates the superior
3)When two mutually exclusive behaviors occur together, one can be substituted for the other,
resulting in the decline of the use of the older and an increase in the use of the newer
Sutherland's Differential Association Theory: intimacy, favorable, and unfavorable defintions -
Answers Advocated that all criminal behavior is learned, not inherited. Criminal behavior is learned
through social interaction with others in the same way that noncriminal behavior is learned. The
learning occurs primarily in small groups and includes techniques as well as motives and drives.
Criminal behavior basically occurs when an individual has more definitions favorable to deviant life
than a law abiding life.
Reiss and Nye's Control Theory: control categories - Answers Maintained that criminal behavior
results from the failures of two types of controls: personal (internalized) and social (formal controls
such as laws, and informal controls, such as social sanctions).
Nye articulated 3 social control categories, which he believed could occur in formal institutions but
took place primarily within the family
1)Direct control (parents threaten punishment for bad behavior and give rewards for good behavior)
2)Indirect control (youth refuses to engage in delinquent behavior because it might hurt family or
friends)
3)Internal control (youth's conscience or guilt prevents participation in the delinquent acts)
Reckless's Containment Theory: internal and external - Answers There are 2 forms of containment
that control behavior.
1)External containment, such as social pressure.
2)Internal containment, refers to the ability to direct oneself. This ability is related to one's self-
concept or self-image.
These two control components are not causes of behavior; rather, they are buffers that operate to
help the person refrain from engaging in illegal acts. If the buffers are strong, the person is law-
abiding; if they are weak he/she commits a crime. These buffers neutralize society's norms.
Hirschi's Bonding Theory: four stages of bonding - Answers Looked at the question of why most
people don't commit crimes. He believed the answer lies in social bonding which includes 4
components:
1)Attachment to conventional persons
2)Commitment to conventional behavior
3)Involvement with conventional people
4)Belief in conventional norms
Gottfredson and Hirschi's Self-Control Theory: gratification, risk-taking, self-centeredness, parenting -
Answers Low self-control is the key element of this theory.
People with low self-control have several characteristics in common. They
1)seek immediate gratification
2)look for easy or simple ways to gratify their desires
3)find in crime their need for exciting, risky, or thrilling acts
4)have little stability in their lives
, 5)are self-centered and indifferent or insensitive to the needs of others
6)have little tolerance for frustration.
Self-control arises through parental socialization
Labeling Theory: how labels affect public's perception of offender, consequences of that label -
Answers Asks why the person was designated deviant. The critical issue is not the behavior itself but
why the behavior is labeled deviant.
Deviance labels produce negative consequences for those receiving labels: self-fulfilling prophecy --->
tendency to see themselves as deviant which leads to continued deviant behavior
Erik Lemert:
1) Primary deviation: arises in a wide variety of contexts and has only marginal implications for the
individual's psychic structure and
2)Secondary deviation: consists of deviant behavior that is a defense to society's reaction to one's
primary deviation
Braithwaite's Restorative Justice: shaming - Answers Examined labeling theory in the context of the
total social structure, which might cause some people to embrace criminal behavior and others to
avoid it.
His key word is shaming, which is a process of heaping social disapproval on a person until it induces
remorse.
Shaming is an important element of social control and there are 2 types.
1)Disintegrative shaming- stigmatizes the subject
2)Reintegrative shaming- consists of attempts to bring the person back into law-abiding society which
is done through a process of restorative justice.
Bandura's Observational Learning: live model, verbal instruction, symbolic - Answers 1)A live model,
which involves an actual individual demonstrating or acting out a behavior.
2)A verbal instructional model, which involves descriptions and explanations of a behavior.
3)A symbolic model, which involves real or fictional characters displaying behaviors in books, films,
television programs, or online media.
Sampson and Laub's Age Graded Theory- trajectories and how social bonds can influence trajectories -
Answers Referred to age-graded informal social controls such as the bonding that occurs within the
family and schools, with peers, and later in life, with marriage and jobs. A person's bonding with these
age-graded controls inhibits delinquent behavior.
1)Structural context mediated by informal family and school social controls explains delinquency in
childhood and adolescence
2) in turn, there's continuity in antisocial behaviors from childhood through adulthood in a variety of
life domains and
3) informal socials bonds in adulthood to family and employment explain changes in criminality over
the life span despite early childhood propensities.
They contended that both abrupt turning points and gradual changes that occur as one matures, such
as getting married or entering a career, would increase that individual's bonding to society. Thus, it is
understandable that even those who are delinquent during youth will decrease their illegal activity as
they grow older.
General definitions of homicide (don't need to know degrees of murder) - Answers General definitions
of homicide: Homicide is used to refer to all killings some of which may be lawful
felony murder- If a victim dies while a felony, such as robbery or rape, is committed.